Ucheoma Nwaozuru

Biographic Data

ID5877782
NAMEUcheoma Nwaozuru
GIVEN NAMESUcheoma
FAMILY NAMENwaozuru
SIGNATURENWAOZURU U
AFFILIATIONSWake Forest University
ORCID0000-0002-0680-0928
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS26
TOTAL CITATIONS1
AUTHOR COUNT26
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2016
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX1

  • Strategies to Promote HIV Self-Testing and Long-Acting Injectable PrEP Among Ghanaian Youth

    Open AccessGloria Aidoo-Frimpong, Abass Tando Abubakar et al.ARTICLEAIDS and Behavior2026

    Crowdsourcing is a participatory problem-solving approach that engages a large and diverse group of individuals to generate ideas or solutions. In HIV prevention, it provides a structured mechanism for involving youth in shaping intervention strategies. The Innovative Tools to Expand Youth-Friendly HIV Self-Testing and Long-Acting Injectable PrEP Uptake in Ghana (Y-FIT GH) National Open Call applied this method to generate youth-driven ideas to p…

  • Mapping the evidence on factors influencing postpartum contraception among sub-Saharan African immigrant and refugee women in the United States

    Open AccessC Z Olorunsaiye, Augustus Osborne et al.ARTICLEReproductive Health2026

    BACKGROUND: The postpartum period is a critical window for addressing women's contraceptive needs. Sub-Saharan African immigrant and refugee women living in the United State face unique barriers to postpartum contraception due to cultural norms, religious beliefs, migration-related challenges, and systemic inequalities, yet there is limited evidence on their postpartum contraceptive preferences and use. This scoping review mapped the existing lit…

  • Neighborhood Violence Impacts on HIV and STI Testing Among Sexual Minority Youth in the United States

    Bryce Puesta Takenaka, Sitara M Weerakoon et al.ARTICLEAIDS Education2026

    In the United States (U.S.), sexual minority youth (SMY) are disproportionately impacted by HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and structurally marginalized from routine testing for HIV and STI. This study examines neighborhood violence predictors (saw violence, safety concerns, and being threatened) on HIV and STI testing among a sample of SMY in the U.S. Data came from the 2021 Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System (YRBSS)…

  • Uptake of HIV Self-testing Among Adolescents and Young Adults in Nigeria

    Open AccessKadija M Tahlil, Audrey Pettifor et al.ARTICLEAIDS and Behavior2026

  • Building capacity for HIV and implementation science among students in the United States

    Open AccessUcheoma Nwaozuru, Joseph D Tucker et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Public Health2025

    Background: Expanding HIV research capacity among the global majority (individuals identifying as Black/African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, Multiracial, and Hispanic/Latino) is important. However, achieving national goals to increase the pool of implementation science and HIV early-stage investigators from underrepresented backgrounds remains elusive, largely due to limited inves…

  • Stimulating training and access to HIV research experiences (STAR program)

    Open AccessJuliet Iwelunmor, Idia B Thurston et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Public Health2025

    Background: HIV is more common among underrepresented minority adolescents and young adults (AYA, 13-24 years old) in the United States. Low uptake of HIV prevention services suggests a missed opportunity for implementing evidence-based interventions such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and sexually transmitted infection testing among this important population. Most research institutions in the United States also have limited opportunities for…

  • Intersectional stigma and resilience in the uptake of cervical cancer prevention services in Nigeria

    Open AccessAgatha Eileen Wapmuk, Ifeoma Maureen Obionu et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2025

    BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women in Africa, but stigma often delays cervical cancer prevention. We explore the perceptions, enablers and nurturers through the lens of intersectional stigma in the uptake of cervical cancer prevention services in Nigeria. METHOD: Indepth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted among women aged 30-65 years and girls aged 9-26 years in Lagos, Nigeria. Data we…

  • Improving training on hepatitis B research in Nigeria

    Open AccessMaria A Afadapa, Olufunto A Olusanya et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    We organized an Innovation Bootcamp for young people in Nigeria to develop strategies promoting the uptake of the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine among newborns, which remains low, with an estimated coverage of 52%. This event was a collaborative, cross-disciplinary capacity-building platform to generate creative solutions addressing barriers to Hepatitis B vaccine uptake. The purpose of this study was to describe the bootcamp activities that addr…

  • Music as a strategy to improve hypertension and stroke management

    Open AccessChukwuebuka C Okafor, Chidi Okafor et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2025

    The designathon produced various music genres, including afrobeats, rap, and R&B, with lyrics deemed feasible and socio-culturally appropriate. This suggests that music interventions tailored to Nigeria could enhance public awareness of hypertension and stroke prevention if scaled up

  • Strengthening implementation science research to improve adolescent and young adult HIV-prevention and care in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Open AccessGeri R Donenberg, Ucheoma Nwaozuru et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2025

    Not Applicable

  • An innovation bootcamp model for developing youth-led HIV self-testing delivery strategies in Nigeria

    Open AccessUcheoma Nwaozuru, Chisom Obiezu‐Umeh et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Public Health2024

    Introduction: Many designathons, hackathons, and similar participatory events suffer from minimal training and support after the events. Responding to this need, we organized a health innovation bootcamp: an intensive, team-based apprenticeship training with research and entrepreneurial rigor among young people in Nigeria to develop HIV self-testing (HIVST) delivery strategies for Nigerian youth. The purpose of this paper was to describe an innov…

  • Designathons in health research

    Open AccessWarittha Tieosapjaroen, Elizabeth Chen et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2024

    INTRODUCTION: A designathon is a three-stage participatory activity informed by design thinking. There is a growing literature on designathons in health. This study synthesised designathons' effectiveness and implementation-related factors to address health challenges. METHODS: We searched Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, Scopus and the ClinicalTrials.gov registry for articles containing primary data on designathons for health from their dates o…

  • Predictors of Contraceptive Use Associated with Foreign-Born Women in the US During the Preconception Period of Their First Pregnancy

    Open AccessIfeoma Maureen Obionu, Thembekile Shato et al.ARTICLEJournal of Immigrant and Minority…2024

  • Perceptions of HIV self-testing promotion in black barbershop businesses

    Open AccessDonaldson F Conserve, Allison Mathews et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2024

    These findings suggest that barbershop business venues may provide an appropriate venue for HIVST promotion and distribution, though factors like cost, training, and incentivization of implementers are necessary to consider in implementation planning. Furthermore, partnerships between public health actors and the business community must be built on equitable engagement to ensure the long-term viability of these critical initiatives

  • Decolonization and antiracism

    Collins O Airhihenbuwa, Chandra L Ford et al.ARTICLEEthnicity and Health2024

    In this paper, as Black scholars, we address ways that interventions designed to promote equity in health can create pathways for coupling decolonization with antiracism by drawing on the intersection of the health of Africans and African Americans. To frame this intersection, we offer the Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) and the PEN-3 Cultural Model as antiracism and decolonization tools that can jointly advance research on colonizatio…

  • Crowdsourcing to support training for public health

    Open AccessKadija M Tahlil, Ucheoma Nwaozuru et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2023

    Crowdsourcing is an interactive process that has a group of individuals attempt to solve all or part of a problem and then share solutions with the public. Crowdsourcing is increasingly used to enhance training through developing learning materials and promoting mentorship. This scoping review aims to assess the literature on crowdsourcing for training in public health. We searched five medical and public health research databases using terms rel…

  • HIV testing and ethnicity among adolescent girls and young women aged 15–24 years in Ghana

    Open AccessUcheoma Nwaozuru, Thembekile Shato et al.ARTICLEJournal of Biosocial Science2022

    Despite the high prevalence of HIV among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) aged 15–24 years in Ghana, HIV testing remains low among this population. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between ethnicity and HIV testing among AGYW in Ghana. The 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey data were used and analyses were restricted to 3325 female participants aged 15–24 years. Chi-squared tests and a logistic regression m…

  • Healthcare provider-to-patient perspectives on the uptake of teleconsultation services in the Nigerian healthcare system during the Covid-19 pandemic era

    Open AccessIfeanyi Jude Ezeonwumelu, Ifeanyi Jude Obijiaku et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2022

    The urgency to curtail the devastating effects of the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic has led to the implementation of several measures to limit its spread, including movement restrictions and social distancing. As most developing countries rely solely on hospital visitations for their medical needs, this impediment to assessing healthcare services compounded by low uptake of telehealth services could result in dire consequences. This is a cross-sectio…

  • Perceptions of Covid-19 self-testing and recommendations for implementation and scale-up among Black/African Americans

    Open AccessUcheoma Nwaozuru, Chisom Obiezu‐Umeh et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2022

    Findings showed that most participants considered COVID-19 ST valuable for encouraging COVID-19 testing. However, cost and accuracy concerns may pose barriers. Future work should consider implementing interventions that leverage the benefits of COVID-19 ST and further assess the extent to which these identified facilitators and barriers may influence COVID-19 ST uptake

  • Assessing Engagement of Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA) in HIV Research

    Open AccessKadija M Tahlil, Laura Rachal et al.ARTICLEAIDS and Behavior2022

    Engagement of adolescents and young adults (AYA) in HIV research is increasing in many settings. We organized a crowdsourcing open call to solicit examples of how AYA have been engaged in HIV research in Africa and to develop an engagement typology. We formed a steering committee, promoted the open call, organized judging and recognized finalists. We used a multi-methods approach to identify emerging themes and measure engagement. We received 95 …

  • Tailoring youth-friendly health services in Nigeria

    Open AccessUcheoma Nwaozuru, Kadija M Tahlil et al.ARTICLEGlobal Health Action2021

    BACKGROUND: Young people in low- and middle-income countries are often neglected in designing youth-friendly health services, especially HIV testing and preventive services. Designathons, which are time-bounded co-creation events where individuals gather in teams to develop solutions to a problem, could promote youth participation and ownership of health services. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to examine youth participation in a designa…

  • Young people’s preferences for HIV self-testing services in Nigeria

    Open AccessChisom Obiezu‐Umeh, Titilola Gbaja‐Biamila et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2021

    HIV self-testing preferences among Nigerian youth appear to be influenced by several factors including lower cost, less invasive testing method, location of testing, and linkage to care and support post testing. Findings underscore the need to address young people's HIV self-testing preferences as a foundation for implementing programs and research to increase the uptake of HIVST

  • Microfinance and Peer Health Leadership Intervention Implementation for Men in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Open AccessFrank Mhando, Kathryn Dovel et al.ARTICLEAmerican Journal of Men s Health2020

    Men in sub-Saharan Africa continue to experience health disparities that are exacerbated by low employment. This study qualitatively assessed men’s perceptions of the economic and health-care-seeking effects of participation in an integrated microfinance and peer health leadership intervention on violence and HIV risk reduction in Tanzania. Three focus group discussions with 27 men, aged 20 to 44 years, examined the perceived effects on income ge…

  • Factors Influencing Contraceptive Use in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Open AccessSarah R Blackstone, Ucheoma Nwaozuru et al.ARTICLEInternational Quarterly of…2017

    The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature regarding factors influencing contraceptive use in sub-Saharan Africa between 2005 and 2015. A total of 58 studies from twelve Sub-Saharan African countries were reviewed. Keywords were grouped using the PEN-3 cultural model. Negative factors prohibiting or reducing contraceptive use were women’s misconceptions of contraceptive side–effects, male partner disapproval, and social…

  • Disclosure Narratives of Women Living with HIV in South Africa

    Open AccessJuliet Iwelunmor, Ucheoma Nwaozuru et al.ARTICLEJournal of Social Issues2017Cited by: 1References: 41

    This study explored the disclosure narratives of women living with HIV (WLWH) to establish how they make sense of the stigmatized identity associated with HIV and decisions to conceal or reveal knowledge of their seropositive status to others. Forty‐eight WLWH participated in seven focus group discussions (with 42 participants) and six in‐depth interviews about their experiences with living with HIV and disclosure of their HIV seropositive status…